US President Barack Obama has called a meeting of his Afghan war cabinet, amid conflicting reports of a Taliban leader's arrest that could mark a watershed in the region.
The meeting in the secure White House Situation Room comes after the reported capture by US and Pakistan spies of the Taliban's top military commander, in what was apparently a huge blow to the Afghan insurgency.
The White House has so far denied the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, but Arabic news agency Al Jazeera reports that unnamed US officials have confirmed it.
An analyst told SBS the US may be reluctant to confirm the death as they were hoping to use Baradar to make a deal with other senior Taliban commenders.
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"I think the White House doesn't want to draw too much attention to the issue as there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to get him to maybe make contact perhaps other people within the Taliban and try and use Baradar to achieve some kind of negotiated outcome," Clive Williams told SBS.
"It was announced in the media that the CIA was involved which of course will be very unpopular in Pakistan, and that's why the country's Interior Minister has been denying there was any American involvement, clearly I would think there was," Williams said.
Obama will meet top officials including Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command.
War commander General Stanley McChrystal and US ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry were due to take part in the meeting by video conference, the White House said.
The meeting is similar to the long series of high-level consultations Obama initiated before deciding on the strategy to surge 30,000 extra troops into the Afghan war late last year.
US and other media reported on Tuesday that Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested in Pakistan's port city of Karachi several days ago.
The White House refused to confirm the arrest, which would mark a watershed in the US campaign against the Taliban.
US, NATO and Afghan troops meanwhile pressed on with a major assault against the Taliban bastion of Marjah in southern Afghanistan, key to Washington's new strategy for turning around the troubled war.
Also on Wednesday, Obama will meet the top US general in Iraq, Ray Odierno, and US ambassador to Baghdad Christopher Hill in the Oval Office, officials said.
